IRCTC TATKAL RESERVATION RULE

Last updated on February 28, 2016

IRCTC was very fast in realizing the dilemma of the passengers who had to travel due to some emergency and initiated a new way of getting the seats reserves which is known as Tatkal Scheme.

There is certain IRCTC TATKAL RESERVATION RULE which needs to be followed by all and they are-

• IRCTC Tatkal Ticket Booking should be done two days prior to the departure date which excludes the day you will travel.
• The Tatkal Charges are fixed now as it is 10% of the actual fare of the second class and about 30% of the actual for all the other classes.
• The charges will remain the same in both the off season and season time.
• Tatkal scheme is also accessible in Executive Class by Shatabadi Express trains also
• Tatkal booking opens at  8 AM at least days in advance  actual date of journey
• No Tatkal tickets will be issued that are duplicate.
• Tatkal tickets are only issued when an individual provides a valid ID proof like the Voter ID, Passport, Pan Card, Driving License, the student identity card issued by the school or university, Pass book of a national bank, Smart card issued by the Indian Government, etc.
• If the Tatkal tickets are booked in a group, it is important that the passenger whose identity card number is noted at the time of the reservation will produce original ID proof of individuality that is specified on the ticket. If he fails to do so all the other passengers reserved on the same ticket shall be considered as traveling with no ticket and penalized accordingly.

Refund on Tatkal Tickets

As per the rules no refund will be given for cancellation of Tatkal tickets which are confirmed by the Indian Railways. On the other hand, the whole refund of the ticket and tatkal charges will be given back on the tickets that are booked under the Tatkal scheme in some of the under mentioned situations:-

• If the train due to unavoidable reasons is delayed for more than 3 hours at the beginning station and not the boarding point, just in case the passenger’s beginning point and boarding point are diverse.
• If the train is taking the different route and the passenger decides not to take the same route.
• If the train is for some reasons taking a diverted route and the beginning station or the last station or both the stations are not on the sidetracked route.
• If the passenger traveling has been accommodated in lower class and that passenger refuses  to travel. In some cases when the passenger has to reach his destination he adjusts with the lower class and the difference is refunded to the concerned passenger.

It is advisable to book the tatkal tickets from the railway counters or the reliable travel agents as during the peak hours the railway website generally works very slow and you might miss out the Tatkal booking and regret later on.